Emerald Spire 24.0 - Quicksilver Wizard Tiana
Continuing down the hall, they found the walls to be enchanted with a pleasing illusion of waves and soft shapes. The room at the end held a slightly raised platform with an arcane array engraved into it while a beautiful pair of engraved doors stood beyond, adorned with pictures of people bathing. At Marin's request, Amara investigated the platform, finding it to be a teleportation circle. Unfortunately not only was it broken, it was impossible to tell where it might take someone. As Marin stepped towards the doors they swung open unbidden, revealing a cozy, well-kept room with couches, a dining table, and a fire burning in a fireplace. A very fine-looking construct head, not unlike those of Zdislav's robots upstairs but of much higher quality, lay in the center of the table on a cushion, and Marin could spy the back of someone's head sitting on the couch. Suddenly, the robot head's eyes lit up and it called to invite them in with a rich, deep voice, pleased that there were so many guests. The seated person whipped around: a dark-skinned woman, terrified and alert at the intrusion. She didn't seem hostile and it took only a moment for her to introduce herself: Tiana, the Conclave wizard that they had been seeking. The head welcomed them, inviting them to sit and have tea. It explained that he was the host of this sanctum: a spa, a place of refreshment and relaxation for the guests of Magelord Tol L'ren. Marin and Kormon were deeply distrustful of the whole situation but Amara gladly came and partook of the tea and cake that was presently brought out by a rickety robot, after Tiana explained that what they made was quite good. Tiana was extremely relieved and grateful that they had come to rescue her. She had been running for weeks, escaping Zdislav, sneaking her way past the snakemen of floors 7 and 8, the morlocks of floor 9, and eventually the dragons of floor 10. Unfortunately, that was where her luck had run out. The dragons had attacked her, giving her some serious burns, destroying her belongings, and eventually sending her falling down the flight of stairs, breaking her ankle. The dragons didn't bother pursuing her down the stairs however, so she had managed to drag herself forward, unwilling to lay down and die. She had been just as shocked as them to discover this place here, and though it was certainly not unpleasant, she had begun to resign herself to the notion of dying alone and unremarked in the depths of the spire's cellars. Now faced with the prospect of returning to the surface, she gushed about her findings in the spire, particularly the axis on floor 9. Marin and Kormon pressed her for information while Amara cast the ritual to make a floating disk to carry the injured Tiana with them. She had been sent by the Conclave to investigate the spire, a known magical artifact. It had been assumed for years that this place had some sort of magical power: records existed from the very beginning of Southwood, the town recently renamed as Fort Inevitable, some sixty years ago of strange appearances and disappearances, hauntings and the like. What she had found in the records of floor 9, from what little she could investigate before being chased away by morlocks, as well as what she had seen herself had confirmed the suspicion: the spire was an insanely powerful magical substance, used for conjuration and the empowerment of constructs at least. It was the past property, or perhaps creation, of the Magelord of Conjuration, an ancient warlord and ruler of Valparaiso, the ancient empire; all of these floors and catacombs were perhaps once a stronghold or castle of his. The Conclave would want to know about this immediately and would send many, much more qualified wizards than Tiana to study and claim this power for the guild. With it, there was no telling how strong and rich the Quicksilvers might become. Kormon and Marin were outwardly happy for Tiana's discovery, but exchanged several meaningful looks. Meanwhile, Host piped up, inquiring whether they were adventurers or mercenaries of some sort. When they said yes, he asked if they might perform a favour for him: he and the other wait staff were in extreme states of disrepair, as it had been an exceedingly long time since anyone had checked on them. Unfortunately, this floor was not only a spa; it was also a factory of sorts where raw materials were processed into new constructs, and the less-than-sentient constructs that ran the deconstruction process had decided that the spa itself, and its staff, were no longer useful and therefore in need of reconstitution. He asked them if they could help him access the main factory hub so that he might reprogram the robots so that they no longer tirelessly aimed to destroy the wait staff; Marin questioned why they couldn't just destroy the machinery itself, but the butler head assured him it would not be a simple feat. Apologizing to him, the adventurers explained that their first priority was to get Tiana to safety; after that, they would come back and help with his problem. He sighed but did not argue, thanking them for their consideration. When the disk was created, the group moved towards the ladder, where they hoped to access the Spire at level 11. Tiana thanked the robots for their kind hospitality as they left. A hushed conversation between Marin and Kormon led to them stopping at floor 9, to 'look for a friend of theirs'. Unfortunately, Dayana was not there anymore, so Marin, Kormon, Vibol and Ismail excused themselves to see if they could find her, leaving Amara and the slightly suspicious Tiana in the central room. Once alone, the group discussed their plan. They were hesitant to just hand the power of the spire over to the Quicksilver Conclave, but just as hesitant to stand back and let the Adamantine Order or Sabreal take it either. Considering their options, they decided to try and make it look like they were still supporting the Quicksilvers while working to swiftly and secretly find a way to undermine or possibly destroy the spire before anyone could lay full claim to it, preferably in such a way that it wouldn't also destroy them and the surrounding countryside. All of this was still being done without Amara's knowledge as Kormon and Marin wished to continue leaving her blissfully unaware. Ismail agreed with them in their plans, as his goddess certainly would have no particular interest in this monument, and Vibol continued to quietly suggest that maybe they should save Jaquarl. Finding no graceful way to delay Tiana's return to the surface, the group rejoined with the two women where Kormon took a moment to ask Tiana about all of the engravings around the room. The wizard explained that most were history and a monument to Tol L'ren, the spire and Valparaiso; some were arcane in nature and seemed to play some role in energy distribution throughout the different floors; Kormon paid particular attention to the locations of those segments as Tiana pointed them out. Category:Emerald Spire